PLM for the Eurofighter Typhoon

Howard Mason

IT and eBusiness

BAE SYSTEMS

Chairman, ISO TC184/SC4©British Aerospace

Affordable Air Dominance

www.eurofighter.com

Each project will involve a different configuration

The ‘Virtual Enterprise’

Different partners use different systems

Customers Suppliers

Subcontractors

Partners

Project 1

Project 2

Structural build work share

37.5% BAE SYSTEMS

19.5% ALENIA

30% EADS-Germany

13% EADS-CASA

Nat

iona

l and

exp

ort c

usto

mer

s

Concurrent product development

Supp

liers

Eurofighter Typhoon

Commonsupplier

base

Four assembly

lines

BAE SYSTEMS

Alenia

EADS-D

EADS-CASA

Eurofighter PDM Data ExchangeThe Challenge

• Partners use different PDM systems– ProductManager (BAE SYSTEMS,

Alenia), – MetaPhase (EADS-Germany)– Optegra (EADS-CASA)

• Exchange required to support– Configuration management– Product Structure release– Design/Build Standard exchange– Links to electrics– Exchange of modifications

Requirements

• Manage Product Data using a PDM system

• Support Collaborative Engineering in a Partnership

• Deploy a solution reusable across projects

Options

Option 1:– All companies use the same:

• PDM database• PDM application

Option 2:– All companies use a copy of the same:

• PDM database• PDM application• exchange data

Option 3:– All companies use their own PDM systems

• exchange data

Option 1

PDMdatabase

PDMapplication

• All companies use the same:– PDM database– PDM application

PDMapplication

PDMapplication

PDMapplication

Company A

Company B

Company C

Company D

Option 1

Pros

• Staff flexibility

• Easy communication – shared data– common application view

Cons

• Cost:– Application purchase– Training

• Loss of Integration to downstream processes

• Slow response rate

Option 2

PDMapplication

• All companies use a copy of the same :– PDM database– PDM application– exchange data

PDMapplication

PDMapplication

PDMapplication

Company A

Company B

Company C

Company D

PDMdatabase

PDMdatabase

PDMdatabase

PDMdatabase

Option 2

Pros

• Staff flexibility

• Easy communication – shared data– common application view

Cons

• Cost:– Application purchase– Training

• Loss of Integration to downstream processes

• Data exchange infrastructure

Option 3

PDMapplication

• All companies use their own PDM systems:– exchange data

PDMapplication

PDMapplication

PDMapplication

Company A

Company B

Company C

Company D

PDMdatabase

PDMdatabase

PDMdatabase

PDMdatabase

Option 3

Pros

• No additional PDM purchase

• No training in new systems

• Downstream processes integration in place

Cons

• Staff flexibilityrequired

• DIfficult communication – no common application

view

• Data exchange infrastructure required

Eurofighter PDM Options

• Each company runs many projects

• Common downstream infrastructure

• Any proposal to all use the same PDM system is:

•NOT AN OPTION

Data exchange options

• Use our own data exchange format– will not carry over to the next aircraft programme– significant work in defining the data exchange

format– need a translator for every exchange pairing

• Aerospace industry common messaging (AECMA)– does not cover scope of data– European not International standard

Strategy

• A single technical solution for all uses

• Reduce costs for all of our virtual enterprises

• Use of standards

• International acceptance

STEP PDM Schema

STEP exchange

PDMapplication

PDMapplication

PDMapplication

PDMapplication

Company A

Company B

Company C

Company D

PDMdatabase

PDMdatabase

PDMdatabase

PDMdatabase

STEP PDM

Schema

• Need a translator for every exchange pairing

• N2 - N translators! • Need 2N translators

BAE SYSTEMSEnovia*PM

PDM Schematranslator

EADS-Germany

MetaPhase

PDM Schematranslator

PDM Schematranslator

PDM Schematranslator

AleniaEnovia*PM

EADS-CASA

Optegra

STEP PDM

Schema

Solution

Approach

BAE SYSTEMSEnovia*PM

STEP PDM

Schema

Agree scope & meaning of data

Map to PDM Schema

PDM Schematranslator

Implementtranslator

Partners

Status

• Deployed in production on Eurofighter

• Currently being used for exchange of configuration management and build standard data

• Savings resulting from:– Elimination of manual BoM extraction– Elimination of manual model extraction– Reduced change requests– Improved data quality

Success Factors &

Lessons Learned

Success Factors

• Commitment

• Ownership

• Resources

Success Factors

BAeEnovia*PM

STEP PDM

Schema

Agree scope & meaning of data

Map to PDM Schema

PDM Schematranslator

Implementtranslator

Partners

• Understand process• Agree terms• Stable standard

• Usage guide• Expert Help• Scope of standard• COTS

• Skilled resource

• Deployment plansynchronised with PDM roll out

Benefits of STEP

• Ready made Information Model– Focus for agreement

• Improved data exchange quality– Information modeling based approach– Thorough and complete– Can validate data exchanged

• Supports long term archiving– Vendor neutral– Explicit information model– Implementation independent

Business Benefits

• Standards based– Reusable solution for new projects– Lessons captured for future use

• Facilitates collaborative engineering– right data, at the right time, in the right format

• Supports suppliers

• Matches customer strategy

Challenges

• PDM Schema was State of the Art – PDES, inc & ProSTEP still working on interpretation

• Increasing Vendor support– BAE SYSTEMS needed new skills– Scarce resource

• Exchange exposes quality of process & product data

• Process ownership

• Deployment challenges– New tools - Enovia*PM – API limitations– Changes to process

Building on success

• Supply chain– only exchanged PDM data at a partner level

• CAD– Exchange of solid models for manufacturing

• Technical Packaging– packaging up data to send to suppliers

• Analysis– Structural analysis etc.

OpenIntegratedProduct

Datausing STEP

PM

Building on Success - across the enterprise

CATIA

Optegra

CADDS

Metaphase

ProENGINEER

Legacy

Legacy

Geometry exchangeusing STEP

PDM exchangeusing STEP

COLLABORATIONMODULE

COLLABORATIONMODULE

EXOSTAREXOSTAR

ANALYSIS

MANUFACTURE

CUSTOMERSUPPORT

CUSTOMERSYSTEMS

Standard external services using STEP/PLCS

Common datainterfaces using

STEP/PLCS

Scope of STEPtoday

SharedData

Product Structure

Product Representations

Product Performance

Support Environment

Support Performance

Failure Analysis

Task Resource Data

Maintenance Analysis `

Support and OperationalFeedback

StandardCommercialTransactionsFeed &

Extract

Change Directives

Maintain/DisposeQuery

DerivedDisposable

Data

RespondUse

LifeCycleData

Building on Success - The PLCS Initiative

Conclusion

• STEP works for PDM

• STEP implementations are reusable

• STEP does give business benefit– to the customer– to the prime contractor– to the supply chain

• Validated in production on Eurofighter by independent audit

• See www.eurofighter.com